One of the main key to a website’s success is domain name, it is absolutely necessary that you use a good quality domain name for your site, something that can be remembered easily. A domain name is like an address and the website is like the house, with that said if you need someone to find your house/site you need to have an address, one that is easily remembered, one that stands out in the visitor’s mind.
Generic Domain.
Everyone wants a great generic domain name. Some companies even paid ridiculously high prices to get the name they want. Domain names like www.cars.com or www.website.com are great keywords because they instantly provide the user with an idea of what business is all about, what to expect and what to look in a site. If you can’t get a 1 word generic then try and find 2 or 3 word ones that are relevant to the subject you are searching. Like Website Review – www.websitereview.net. Or if you operate in a local business consider adding your city or state locality to your domain name. For example, if you cell phones in Texas, a possible domain name would be texascellphones.com.
Long or Short.
Some say that short domains are better while some are more into long domains, but it’s all up to you and your preference because they both have their advantages and disadvantages, it all depends on if you market your site effectively. However it is recommended that you don’t make your domain name get over 46 characters because this is hard to remember due to its enormous length.
Domain Extensions.
Your domain name is made up of two parts: your “domainname” followed by a “dot extension” or TLD (top level domain). Most business owners will register their domain name with one or all three of the most popular extensions: .com, .net, and .org. However, there are many other domain name extensions that could be appropriate to your website content including .info, .biz, .mobi, .tv, etc. Below are some popular extensions and what they mean. They are sorted in terms of popularity.
.com
represents the word “commercial,” and is the most widely used extension in the world. Most businesses prefer a .com domain name because it is a highly recognized symbol for having a business presence on the internet.
.net
represents the word “network,” and is most commonly used by internet service providers, Webhosting companies or other businesses that are directly involved in the infrastructure of the internet. Additionally, some businesses choose domain names with a .net extension for their intranet websites.
.org
represents the word “organization,” and is primarily used by non-profits groups or trade associations.
.biz
is used for small business websites.
.info
is for credible resource Web sites and signifies a “resource” website. It’s the most popular extension beyond .com, .net and .org.
.mobi
is reserved for websites built for easy viewing on mobile devices.
.us
is for American websites and is the newest extension. It has the largest amount of available names in inventory.
.biz
was originally designated as the country code for Belize, but is now commonly used by small business who can’t get the name they want using the .biz extension. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
.tv
is for rich content/multi-media websites, commonly used within the entertainment or media industry.
.co.uk
is the country code for United Kingdom. The .co portion of the extension indicates the domain name is for commercial purposes (similar to a standard .com extension). It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
.edu
this domain extension used for high schools and college related sites which are mostly informative. They offer information on school subject topics, top schools, courses etc.
.gov
is used for websites run by branches of the United States government.
Copyright Infringement.
This is a mistake that isn’t made too often, but can can be very serious and ruin a great company when it does. You can use the online search function of the US Copyright Office if you have doubts about copyright issues for a particular domain name.
In Conclusion:
Your domain name should be easy to remember and memorable. It should be suggestive of your business category or related to your business, it should be unique, easy to interpret and pronounce, should be personalized, and not difficult to spell. But whatever method you use for choosing a domain name, there are always exceptions to the rule. Think about , twitter.com, amazon.com. Their name is now their brand, but it was the one that had to be built from scratch.
Very informative article.Really thank you! Cool.
This writing has inspired me to continue focusing on my own blog
It is best to have a domain name that is short and sweet, and if possible to add your keyword in it for SEO, and I like .com’s because they are the most assumed. People will immediately type in a .com if they are looking for a website.
I am not sure how necessary it is anymore to have keywords in your domain. If it represents you well, the name of the domain that is, or your company, then use that as your domain.
As long as the domain name is catchy with the .com that is the best kind in my opinion.
I think it is always a good idea to add the keyword in your domain and it does not have to be a .com either. A keyword rich domain will help rankings of your site.
I agree, a website needs a good name for lots of promotional reasons. Also to keep in mind, if your plan on advertising in a certain way that the website is being spoken, for example radio, etc.. then easy to spell and with no spelling variations is good too. Try to get some or at least one of your targeted keywords in your domain and in my opinion .com domains are best, although I do like and own domains that are .org, etc.. so I have nothing against them, but .com is the best one I would say.